Premiere of Polish-American film 'Roving Woman' at Raindance Film Festival in London

On 3 November 2022 at the Raindance Film Festival, the British premiere of the Polish-American film Roving Woman, the debut feature film from director Michal Chmielewski, will take place in London. It stars Polish actress Lena Gora in the lead role. The film was written by Chmielewski and Gora, who also produced the film.

Michał Chmielewski is a director from Poland. He is a civil engineer and photographer by background. His short fiction, documentaries and experimental films have been screened at many European film festivals and have won numerous awards such as Youth and Film Festival, Poland – Canal + Award, Camera Action Film Critics Festival, Poland – Best Film Award, Long Story Short Film Festival, Poland- Audience Award, Autumn in Voronet International Film Festival, Romania – Best Directing Award, The Quarantune Film Festival in Warna, Bulgaria – Best Film Award. Roving Woman is his debut feature film.

Credits: press material
 

Lena Gora is an actress and writer. She was born in Poland and started her acting career in the Polish theatre. She later went on to perform on stage in London and New York. Lena is now starring in the new Canal+ series “The King of Warsaw” and in the new Bernard Rose film alongside Stephen Dorff and Danny Huston. IMAGO a film, in which Mountain portrays a character based on her mother, will be premiered in late 2022. Lena is currently in Europe, where she is playing the lead role in a Netflix series called “Night at the Kindergarden.”

Ali McClary describes the film as follows: 

From executive producer Wim Wenders comes a beautiful, insightful, and quirky road movie. The driver Sara (Lena Góra), has been kicked out of her home amidst a break-up, steals a car, then seemingly falls in love with its owner (John Hawkes,) setting out on a journey to find him.

 

A quietly chaotic road movie, Roving Woman opens on Sara banging on her ex-boyfriend’s door. Locked out, reeling, a little drunk and with nowhere to go, she begins to walk. What follows is a journey through the Joshua Tree desert, in a stolen car, that embraces the anonymity of travel.

 

With sparse dialogue, a grubby feel and melancholic soundtrack, we are Sara’s passengers on her ride to nowhere. Some scenes play out through dusty car windows, often with the action taking place off screen – we’re just waiting in the car for Sara until we continue roving. Some interactions with fellow wandering souls are troubling, others illuminating. She takes what she needs from these chance meetings and moves on.

 

In the stolen car, Sara snuggles into a jumper found on the back seat, rifles through loose change and scrutinizes the CD collection. After finding a homemade CD marked “for Mimi” filled with original love songs, she decides to return the car to its owner, played by Academy Award-nominee John Hawkes.

 

We feel this is a journey Sara has been destined to make for a long time. This film contains the hallmark of a classic break-up film – a search for epiphany – but it doesn’t hand us the road map to self-discovery.